The twenty-second edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) was published on 11th September 2017. This publication ranks Mauritius as best international financial centre in Africa. Mauritius has gained two places compared to the previous exercise, ranking 69th globally out of 108 international financial centres.

It is interesting to note that London retains its position as the leading centre worldwide, despite the ongoing Brexit negotiations. New York follows in the second position. Other well-established centres such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo remained in the top five worldwide although Hong Kong has just moved ahead of Singapore from fourth to third position, thus Singapore and Tokyo follow in the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

The publication highlighted some other key findings. There was an overall drop in confidence amongst centers at the top of the list, in that 23 of the 25 leading centres receded in the ratings while only 2 improved. At the lower end of the global list, 20 of the 25 centres actually improved their ratings.

The following regional trends were observed:

• Western European financial centres remained generally volatile, those rising in their rankings included Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam, while others such as Zurich, Geneva and Luxembourg receded. This may be attributed to speculation as to which of these centres may benefit from Brexit.
• In the Asia-Pacific region, all of the top ten centres saw a decline in their ratings, with Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka receding significantly; these are seen as the after-effect of strong gains made in 2015-2016.
• In North America, all centres including New York (as mentioned above), San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Washington also fell significantly in their ratings.
• In the Middle East and Africa regions the trend was mixed, with Dubai and Casablanca falling slightly while Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Riyadh showed improvements.
• Latin American and Caribbean centres fared well, with the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas showing strong rises and others which are already in the main GCFI doing well too.
• It was observed that the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man all performed strongly, being considered as safe havens from the turmoils in the UK and the UE.

The Index is published jointly by the China Development Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen, China, and Z/Yen Partners in London. The GFCI evaluates the competitiveness of financial centres worldwide, based on data from third party organisations such as the World Bank and The Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD etc. The five key areas covered are business environment, human capital, infrastructure, financial sector development and reputation. The index is compiled twice a year and is widely quoted when ranking financial centres.

The GFCI Report can be downloaded here